Living the Dream
by Mind Crush
Summary: Yusuke Urameshi lives the normal life he dreamed of, skipping school, beating up punks, and Keiko nagging him.  But something's missing. Yusuke now finds himself wondering what's been real and what hasn't. Can he figure it out before its too late?
1. Prologue: Waking Up

**It's been a long time since I last wrote a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction. Hopefully this doesn't suck. Ha ha… :sweat drop:**

**Summary: **Yusuke Urameshi lives a normal life. He skips school, beats up any punk who thinks they can take him on (namely Kuwabara), and he has Keiko nagging him as usual. Yup, he's living the dream... So why does it feel like this isn't the dream he's meant to live?

**Time Period: **During the two months before the Dark Tournament.

**Disclaimer: **Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. Mind Crush is only borrowing it for her amusement.

**x.X.x.X.x**

"_**Living the Dream"  
>Prologue: Waking Up<strong>_

**x.X.x.X.x**

He was only aware of two things: one, his head hurt like hell, and two, everything was black. The fact that he tried to remember what happened only made the pain in his head worsen, which pissed him off even more. And would someone turn on the Goddamn lights already? This isn't the Dark Ages! Cripes, all this angry thinking wasn't helping his current situation. What was his current situation you ask? Well even he didn't have a fucking clue.

So there he was, floating around in a black, never-ending void. He'd have to end up somewhere eventually. Of course not being the brightest person in the world, he didn't make the connection that never-ending usually meant _never ending._

Just when he became bored of the aimless drifting, he heard voices from within the darkness. Were they calling for him? There were two of them. Both sounded female. Why were they familiar?

"Yusuke!"

"I think he's starting to wake up!"

"Oh Yusuke…"

That's right… The voices belonged to Keiko and his mother. How could he forget the sounds of their voices after all the naggings he received (one nagging him to go to school, and one nagging him to quit if he wasn't going to go)? His name is Urameshi Yusuke. The darkness wasn't a dark space—he just had his eyes closed the whole time. Needless to say, he felt like a stupid idiot.

He slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry and he could vaguely see two figures on either side of him. Yusuke quickly closed his stressed eyes due to the dizziness overwhelming from the bright lights in the room. He knew he was just complaining about it being dark, but why did the lights have to be so bright? Didn't anyone ever hear about conserving energy?

When the dizziness went away, Yusuke attempted to open his eyes again. It took a few moments for him to blink the blurriness out his vision. When he could see clearly, Keiko and his mother, Atsuko, were sitting right along his bedside. Tears were threatening to seep from their eyes. They looked like a mess, as if they spent the past several days going through hell and now all of a sudden they had been set free from something that's been troubling them. Yusuke wondered why the women were about to cry. More disturbingly, why were they even watching him sleep?

How long had he been asleep for that matter? Why did his body feel like it had just been hit by a truck? He felt so weak. His head hurt so friggin' bad; it felt like someone was playing tennis by hitting his brain against his skull. What had happened to him?

"Keiko…? Maa…?" he slurred. He tried sitting up with protests made by Keiko who said he shouldn't exert himself, and to just lay back to rest. Ignoring her, he realized he wasn't in his bed or in his bedroom. Taking in his surroundings, he discovered he was in a hospital room. "What's going on?" Yusuke groaned slightly in pain from moving. Boy did his body feel like shit.

Atsuko's expression grew from concerned to that of relief, letting it be made known by letting out a big sigh she had been holding in. But as quick and unpredictable as the weather changed, she grew pissed. The young mother pounded Yusuke on the head—hard—with her fist, much to Keiko's grievance.

"OW!" Yusuke exclaimed, clutching his throbbing head. As he held on to it, he felt bandages wrapped around his skull. He must have been in an accident and hit his head somehow, which explained why he was in the hospital and why he had a bad headache. Of course his mother had to make it worse. "What the hell was that for?"

"That was for worrying the hell out of me and Keiko-chan, you moron! I thought I lost you…" Atsuko bit her lip as she quietly began to sob.

Yusuke's eyes widened as he watched his mother cry. He didn't like seeing her cry. The only time he ever saw her do so was when his dad left, and some other occasion he couldn't think of at the moment.

"Mom…" he whispered sympathetically, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"OH YUSUKE!" Atsuko wept louder. She latched her arms around her son's neck in a headlock which was meant to be a hug.

Yusuke flailed his arms comically as he tried to free himself from Atsuko's iron grip.

"Ack! Let go!"

"Yusuke! Oh Yusuke…!"

"Atsuko, I know you were worried about Yusuke, but you need to let go of him. He just woke up from his coma and still hasn't recovered from surgery." Keiko said, being the voice of reason.

Atsuko begrudgingly did what the girl said, sniffing as she wiped away the tears in her eyes. Yusuke let out a sigh of relief, falling back against the pillow. His mother could be strong. He only then realized the full extent of Keiko's words.

"Wait, I was in a coma—I had a _surgery_?"

Keiko nodded forlornly. "You had massive head trauma. The doctor said when you woke up… if you woke up… that you might have some memory loss. But you seem to remember who we are. I was scared y-you…" she trailed off, trying desperately to keep the tears back.

"Of course I know who you are." Yusuke reassured her. She was another person Yusuke didn't like seeing sad. He finally took the chance to look over her appearance more closely. She was definitely a wreck. Keiko's clothes were wrinkled and her eyes had bags under them. She must have not slept in a while. Yusuke felt terrible for making her worry about him.

He then noticed something was…different…about her. An image about a fire burning part of Keiko's hair flashed in his mind.

"Keiko, wasn't your hair short? How long was I out for it to grow back completely?" Indeed the girl sported long pigtails as she used to.

Keiko seemed surprised. "You've been in a coma for only a few days, Yusuke. I haven't had my hair short since we were kids."

Yusuke scratched at his bandages, confounded. Maybe he only imagined her hair to be short. She did say the doctor said he might experience memory loss. So then why was his gut telling him he was right about the fact that Keiko had short hair?

He pushed the thought aside. There were more pressing matters to be addressed. Memories were slowly starting to come back to him before he blacked out now that he remembered being in a fire. That was when he was dead—the other time Yusuke remembered witnessing his mom cry. Why couldn't he remember being dead? That was kind of a major turning point in his life.

Yusuke recalled Koenma sending him on a mission. He and the others had to go apprehend a demon who was killing humans. The last thing he could remember was fighting the demon. Everything else after drew a blank. He couldn't even remember what the demon looked liked or if he managed to kill him.

"Where are Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei anyway? Those jerks probably know what happened to me after I saved their sorry asses."

Atsuko and Keiko exchanged worried glances.

"What? What happened to them?" Yusuke's tone rose higher when they wouldn't answer him. He was beginning to get scared. Did the demon kill them?

"Who are they?"

Yusuke fell over in disbelief. "You know who they are! You just met Hiei and Kurama, and Kuwabara goes to our school!"

Keiko frowned. "I know Kuwabara but I wasn't aware you two became…friends. I thought you two hated each other. And I don't recall you introducing me to anyone."

Maybe Keiko was the one losing her mind. How could she not remember anything? Sure he and Kuwabara had their moments—they still do—but he didn't hate the guy. Their rivalry blossomed into a friendship...a somewhat forced, abusive friendship where he would beat the crap out of the stupid oaf when the time called for it (but most of the time for no reason at all). Keiko knew this already, and she had met Hiei and Kurama before he went on the stupid mission. Something wasn't right.

"What about the mission? What happened? Aren't I here in the hospital because of the demon we were sent to look for?"

Keiko became startled by Yusuke's rant. "Yusuke, you're starting to scare me…"

"His head trauma from the accident must be even worse than we thought. He's even more of a dunce now." Atsuko stated casually, as if her son ranting about demons was normal. She took out a flask from her pocket and downed the liquor inside.

_Well it didn't take long for her to fall back into routine._ Yusuke noted sourly.

Keiko would have given Atsuko a disapproving look if she hadn't been so concern with Yusuke's state of mental health.

"Yusuke, maybe you should rest. The accident has taken its toll on you."

"There you go again about an accident!" Yusuke snapped. "What accident? Did I get hurt because of that freaking demon bitch?"

"Yusuke… you were hit by a car trying to save a kid…"

…_Oh fuck._

**x.X.x.X.x**

**Dun Dun Duuuuuun. **

**Well there you have it. It's kinda short but I hate to say if I'm going to update this story any faster, then the chapters have to be short… I kinda have a bad track record with updating stories… :sweat drops:**

**But I hoped you guys enjoyed reading this. Please feel free to leave a review. Tell me if you liked, or hated it. I like critique. **

**Cya!**


	2. Chapter One: Not Dead

**It must be the sign of the Apocalypse since I managed to update so fast… I'm scared. O.o;;**

**Summary: **Yusuke Urameshi lives a normal life. He skips school, beats up any punk who thinks they can take him on, namely Kuwabara, and he has Keiko nagging him as usual. He's living the dream... So why does it feel like this isn't the dream he's meant to live?

**Time Period: **During the two months before the Dark Tournament.

**Disclaimer: **Mind Crush does not own Yu Yu Hakusho. Do you think she'd waste her time writing fanfiction if she did? Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi

**x.X.x.X.x**

"_Yusuke, maybe you should rest. The accident has taken its toll on you."_

"_There you go again about an accident!" Yusuke snapped. "What accident? Did I get hurt because of that freaking demon bitch?" _

"_Yusuke… you were hit by a car trying to save a kid…"_

…_Oh fuck_

**x.X.x.X.x**

"_**Living the Dream"  
>Chapter One: Not Dead<strong>_

**x.X.x.X.x**

Yusuke tried to assess what Keiko said… Maybe he didn't hear it right. Maybe she didn't say it right. He was sure the last thing he did before waking up was fighting a demon, not getting hit by a car. Perhaps Botan gave Keiko that cover story. But that didn't seem right. Keiko found out about his job as Spirit Detective after the Saint Beasts fiasco. At first she thought it was a normal, human detective agency he started working for, however Keiko eventually became clued in on the existence of demons during his last case. The one he couldn't seem to remember the details of at the moment. Something didn't add up.

"Yeah I was hit by a car months ago. I died and came back to life." Yusuke laughed in denial.

"See?" Atsuko said. "I told you the accident scrambled his brain."

Yusuke huffed in indignation, muttering 'bitch' under his breath. If Atsuko had heard the remark, she chose to ignore it in light of drinking from her flask.

"You were hit by a car once before and didn't even think to tell me?" Keiko screeched.

"No! I only was run over once!"

"This happened a few days ago!"

"No—I mean—GAH! This is so friggin' confusing!"

"I'll say…" Atsuko mumbled, taking another swig from her flask.

Yusuke let out a sigh of frustration. He felt like pulling his hair out if his arms hadn't hurt so much to move them.

A thought then struck him.

"Oh I see this is all a joke. Did Kuwabara put you up to playing forgetful? Ha ha, very funny. Now where's the asshole hiding so I can pummel him?"

Yusuke search the room but only he, Atsuko, and Keiko occupied it. He couldn't sense Kuwabara's energy, or anyone's energy for that matter. This didn't settle well with him. Only now did he just realize he couldn't access his reiki. His condition was even worse than expected.

"Why would Kuwabara put me up to anything? I don't know him that well."

Okay so then Kuwabara didn't have anything to do with this mess. Maybe Botan told Keiko something.

"What did Botan tell you?"

"Who's Botan?" Keiko asked, slightly annoyed with Yusuke mentioning another girl's name who possibly had more insight to her friend's life than she did.

"You're kidding! You met her awhile ago!"

"Along with Hiei and Kurama, right?" she said sarcastically.

Yusuke groaned. Did Keiko's mind get erased by Botan? Why would Botan do that though? Could Botan even erase memories? Kurama could, so maybe he's the one who did it. But why? No matter how hard Yusuke tried, he couldn't understand why anyone would erase Keiko's memory—his mother's too. Did this have to do with his last case? What the hell happened to make everything so screwy!

"Oh c'mon! How could you guys forget everyone? How could you forget I died once before? I wasn't supposed to die so Reikai gave me a second chance at life!"

Keiko looked to Atsuko for guidance, but the older woman only twirled her finger around the side of her head, mouthing "cuckoo". Keiko should have known Atsuko wouldn't be taking this seriously.

"Yusuke," Keiko said calmly as if she was talking to a five year old, much to Yusuke's annoyance. "The dead can't come back to life."

"But you were there when I did come back to life! You—" He paused before mentioning the reviving kiss they shared, blushing slightly at the thought. It was too awkward to bring it up.

"You never died. Maybe after the accident you thought you did, but miraculously you're alive. You're _alive_, Yusuke!" Tears flowed from Keiko's eyes when faced with the reality of almost losing Yusuke. He may not be right in the head at the moment but as long as he was still here, she didn't care. She threw herself at him, who stiffened at her contact, and softly cried into his chest.

Yusuke felt awkward at first with Keiko hugging him but he tenderly held her back, stroking her hair lightly to console her. It was then he decided to lay off talking about already dying once before since it upset Keiko. He hated seeing a sad expression on her face and would do anything to make her feel happy.

He would figure out what was going on later… He hoped.

Their moment was interrupted by a knock at the door. Keiko pulled herself away from Yusuke just as a nurse stepped inside the room.

"Urameshi-san, you're awake!" The nurse seemed shocked. "Let me come back with the doctor!" she quickly left the room only to return a few minutes later with a young, handsome-looking doctor. Yusuke noticed Atsuko straightening out her clothes and giving her hair a run-through with her fingers to untangle the long strands. His eyes narrowed. It's nice to know where his mother's priorities lied.

"It's good to see you awake, Urameshi-kun. We almost assumed the worst."

_Yeah I bet they had a pool going to see how long it would take for me to kick the bucket. These doctor types are all the same. They don't care._ Yusuke thought bitterly.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked as he flashed a small light in Yusuke's eyes. Keiko stepped away from the bed to make room for the nurse who got to work with changing his IV.

"Just peachy," Yusuke said sarcastically. His body still felt like shit. "You mind go blinding someone else with that light?"

"Yusuke!" Keiko chided.

The doctor didn't seem to take Yusuke's rudeness personally. "We'll prescribe you some painkillers. It's really amazing to see you've woken up from the coma, Urameshi-kun, and without apparent brain damage no less."

The doctor pulled out an x-ray and placed it on the light box hanging off the wall. It was an x-ray of a human skull badly cracked in multiple places—Yusuke's skull. Keiko turned away from the grotesque sight while Atsuko and Yusuke looked on in mild interest.

"As you can see here you've suffered multiple skull fractures on impact. The fact that you're not still comatose or worse—dead is a medical miracle."

"I don't know about not suffering any brain damage," Atsuko piped up. "But then again my son always did have a thick head."

"I wonder who I get that from, _mother._"

"Cool it you two!" Keiko warned.

"Well in this case we should be glad Urameshi-kun has a rock solid skull. That's what probably saved your life." The doctor said jokingly to ease the tension in the room. "Everything appears to be in order here; there are other patients I need to attend to. I'll be back in a while to check up on you." He left the room.

"If you need anything, Urameshi-san, just ring the buzzer. Do try to get some sleep. And as a reminder visiting hours will end in a half-hour." The nurse said before following the doctor out.

"Well you heard the lady, Keiko-chan. Let's leave Yusuke to rest." She said cheerfully.

"But—" Before Keiko could say anything else, Atsuko grabbed her arm and ushered the girl out of the room.

"Oi! Where are you going?"

"We spent basically the last week worrying about your sorry ass! Now that we know you're okay—to an extent—we're going to go home, wash up, and hit the town!"

"But I have school in the morning, Atsuko-san!"

"So skip it! Take care, son!"

Atsuko slammed the door, leaving Yusuke all alone in the small hospital room. Yusuke wondered briefly how his mother could afford a private room, but when it came to Atsuko there were just some things better left unasked.

For now he decided to take the nurse's advice and sleep the pain off. This had been a weird and mentally tiring day. Maybe if he slept everything would go back to normal. Keiko and his mom wouldn't be clueless anymore. Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei would finally show up and brief him the state of the mission. Then he would kick their asses for ditching him.

He wanted to fall asleep but didn't think he could with the obnoxious buzzing of the monitors hook up to him. However, as soon as his head hit the pillow, his eyes grew heavily with sleep. When he was just about to succumb to slumber he noticed a girl watching him from the far corner of the room. He didn't think much of the girl being there. He was far too tired to care.

Yusuke fell asleep, left at the mercy of his dreams.

**x.X.x.X.x**

Sometimes—no scratch that—_all the time—_Yusuke hated being Spirit Detective. If he wasn't the Spirit Detective for the Human World, than he wouldn't be in the messy situation he currently faced now. His life would actually be normal with no demon freaks constantly on his tail, gunning for his head. He wouldn't have to constantly worry about the safety of his friends. He wouldn't have to worry about demons period. Oh how he longed for normalcy.

Yusuke sneezed abruptly. Someone was talking about him—Keiko, probably. He had no doubts she would bitch him out later for cutting school again. But he had a good reason to skip—for her safety. She would understand…eventually. Yusuke shuddered at the thought of receiving one of Keiko's trademark bitch-slaps.

Normally on any other day he played hooky, he would be heading to the Pachinko Parlor to gamble, but not today. He was going to see Genkai.

After Younger Toguro had challenged him to compete at the Dark Tournament, Yusuke decided he needed to see Genkai to ask her to train him. At his current state there was no way he would be able to defeat Toguro. The guy was insanely strong.

As much as he detested the old hag at times, he grudgingly had to admit she knew her stuff when it came to martial arts. She did manage to make him stronger before he fought the Saint Beasts, and he had hardly been the perfect student. If Genkai made him strong within half a month, imagine two (and this time he would be _willing_ to train).

A part of him dreaded going back to the old hag. Her training, for a lack of a better word, was _TORTURE_. Actually, torture couldn't describe it fully. She was really sadistic in her training methods. Yusuke thought she must have got off seeing him suffer. He slept on a bed of needles, did fire-sitting exercises, got buried alive, and he couldn't count the number of times she almost killed him.

Going back to Genkai, Yusuke somewhat feared for his life even more so than he did with Toguro's looming threat. But for the sake of keeping everyone he loved alive, he would suck it up and endure whatever the bitch tossed at him.

So there he was, waiting at the bus stop for the bus to take him to the train station to take him to another bus stop to take him to the mountains where he would walk the rest of the way to Genkai's temple. It was a workout just to reach the old hag.

Suddenly, the sky turned dark and an ominous fog appeared causing everyone and everything on the street to disappear entirely. Time seemed to stand still. Not liking what was going on, Yusuke stood on his feet, prepared for—if anything—what was to come. He couldn't sense any youki present. What was happening?

A figure materialized through the fog, blowing the smoke everywhere dramatically. The said figure before him appeared to be what looked like a girl on an oar. Yusuke dropped his stance, relaxing visibly knowing who the girl was.

_Its only Botan… But what's with the weird entrance?_

"Hey Botan—" he paused, realizing the girl wasn't the light blue haired boatman. Instead she was younger, with green hair tied in a high bun, green eyes, and a pale green kimono with a dark green and brown obi.

"_Urameshi Yusu—"_ her dramatic entrance was cut short when she started coughing uncontrollably from inhaling the smoke, causing her to fall off her oar.

"OUCH!" she cried, clutching her bruised head. The fog and dark atmosphere dispersed, returning Yusuke and the girl back on the busy street. Yusuke sweat dropped. Clearly someone was an amateur.

"You're not Botan."

The girl giggled, seemingly un-phased by her fall as if it was long forgotten. "No but I'm quite flattered you thought I was, Urameshi-kun. Botan-san is my role model!" she said with a starry gleam in her eyes.

"So who the hell are you?"

"Oh! Of course! My name is Moe!" she bowed.

Yusuke briefly wondered why all the boatmen to Reikai he met were so cheery and wore bright colors. Didn't Death have a dress code?

"Right…" he said while crossing his arms skeptically.

He noticed people passing by were giving him a strange look. Yusuke had to think for a second what their beef was when he realized no one could see Moe. She didn't have a container body to manifest in the physical realm as Botan used nowadays. To a normal human, it looked like he was talking to thin air. Seriously, humans needed to get with the program and develop their sixth sense. Yusuke gave a couple watching him the evil eye which would put Hiei's to shame.

"What the hell are you looking at!" he barked causing them to 'eep' in fright. "The freak show is over!"

The couple quickly ran for their lives away from the mentally unstable boy. People thought twice before looking at Yusuke funnily after that. Moe back away a bit, startled by Yusuke's sudden outburst. The famous Urameshi temper she heard about clearly preceded him. She appeared to be clueless about the stares Yusuke received.

"So why are you here?" Yusuke finally asked when the girl didn't seem like she would say anything anytime soon. He had a bus to catch, and the quicker he dealt with Reikai's message, the faster he would get to Genkai's.

"How silly of me!" she bumped her head with her fist lightly. "Koenma-sama wanted me to deliver to you your next case from the Underworld." Moe said, searching for something in her kimono

Yusuke groaned. Not another mission. They always came at the worst possible time. "Screw that! I'm taking a break from being Spirit Detective!" Toguro was far more threatening right now than any other wannabe bad-ass demon.

"I'm afraid…you don't have…much of a choice in the matter, Urameshi-kun." Moe said absentmindedly before getting a panic-stricken expression on her face. "Oh no where is it?" she frantically patted herself down when a thought came to her. "That's right I left it in the inter-dimensional space pocket so I wouldn't lose it!" she laughed nervously, causing Yusuke to fall over. The people on the street continued on their merry way, trying not to notice the crazy boy.

Moe pulled a video tape out of thin air with much relief, and handed it to Yusuke who reluctantly accepted it. He glared at the cassette tape as if it were the plague.

"Why isn't Botan telling me this?" She was the usual go-to person when it came to dealing with Spirit Detective business if you didn't count the one time Hiei gave him a message.

The boatman frowned. "She's been busy lately working hard. In fact we all are, which is why Reikai sent me to deliver the case since not one of my seniors can be spared from their duties. I'm only a spirit guide in training. This is actually my first time in the Human World—it's all very exciting!" Her demeanor quickly changed from that of seriousness to glee.

"After my mission with you, Reikai has given me permission to end my training early in order to reap my very first humans! As of late, Reikai has been so overrun by deaths that we're shorthanded on staff. If the boatmen can't get to the souls fast enough this then creates wandering spirits bounded to the earth. Most boatmen have to double up, even triple up on ferrying souls to Reikai, which is rather rude for the deceased, but it can't be helped. And with all the souls piling up at the Hall of Judgment, it's more paperwork for the ogres." She sighed. "With the earthquake up north and the mess going on now, it seems like people never stop dying." Moe said a little offhandedly.

"What mess?"

"Ah, that's explained in the video, silly. Well I best get going." Moe mounted her oar and floated up in the air erratically, which would make Botan's crazy flying seem pleasant. "The dead aren't going to ferry themselves after all! Nice meeting you Urameshi-kun!" she said with a laugh before disappearing.

When Yusuke had time to put two and two together, he realized, despite his earlier refusal, he got stuck with another case from the Spirit World. That and he missed his bus. The next one wouldn't come for another forty-five minutes. Did he mention how much he hated being Spirit Detective?

"Damn you toddler-bitch!" he shouted up to the sky, waving his fist menacingly in the air all the while scaring the passerby's again. Yusuke's anger boiled over when they started staring at him.

"That's it! Who's face wants to go first meeting my fist?"

**x.X.x.X.x**

"Yusuke…_Yusuke…"_

Someone was calling for him again. He wanted to ignore them but they wouldn't stop persisting. He smelt alcohol. The stench would be enough to wake the dead. Finally, Yusuke stirred from his slumber to see his mother up in his face, staring down at him too close for comfort. She'd definitely been drinking again as made clear by the alcohol on her breath. How early was it?

"Ever heard of personal space?"

Atsuko sighed in relief. "I was checking to see if you were alive..." She started sniffing back the tears.

Here we go again…

"Mom, we've been through this already. Don't cry." Yusuke rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He had been dreaming. He had gotten the sense of deja vu that he experienced that dream once before. Or maybe it really happened to him before he blacked out?

"I can't help it Yusuke!"

"Oh geeze… what's going on outside anyway?" There was a loud commotion outside his door caused by a group of people. He only just heard the ruckus now. Yusuke always been a heavy sleeper, the only thing that could wake him up was the scent of alcohol.

"That's just some news reporters. Word got out the "boy-hero" who saved a child's life woke up from his coma. Damn nosy bastards won't leave me alone."

Boy-hero? Him? Well that's new.

A knock came at the door. Atsuko growled, obviously agitated. The reporters gave her a hard time coming into her son's room. They wouldn't stop with the freaking questions. She yanked the door open and was met with dozen flashes from cameras taking pictures. Yusuke gapped.

A woman stood in the doorway with a little boy in her arms, trying to ignore the reporters.

"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you but I wanted to thank the boy who saved my son's life."

Atsuko let the woman in, slamming the door on the reporters. She placed her son down on the chair by the bed. The boy turned around, blinking innocently at Yusuke.

Yusuke's eyes widened. It was the kid he had sacrificed his life to save! It was all because of this kid he had become a Spirit Detective. But this happened months ago. The boy had a bandage on his forehead. Did the boy manage to hurt himself again? The mother really needed to teach her child to be safe.

"Masaru what do you tell the nice boy for saving your life?"

"Thank you mister! And thank you for making those funny faces!" he giggled.

Yusuke smiled warmly. He couldn't stay mad at the kid, even if he _was_ the cause of the bane in his life—being Spirit Detective. He was just too damn innocent which compelled Yusuke in the first time to save him. If it came down to it, he would save him all over again…which apparently is what happened.

"Don't mention it kid." He said while making another funny face causing the kid to point and laugh. The mother seemed less than thrilled at her son being subjected to Yusuke's idiotic antics, while Atsuko was less thrilled about her son making a jackass of himself. "But I saved you months ago. You said your thanks at my funeral."

The mother gave Atsuko a questioning look.

Atsuko shrugged. "His mind's still scrambled. He can't remember what happened."

Yusuke glared at his mother for speaking as if he wasn't there. "I can remember just fine, _mother."_

"Keep telling yourself that, _son._"

The interaction between Yusuke and Atsuko made Masaru's mother uncomfortable.

"It's time to go, Masaru. Say goodbye to the nice boy."

Yusuke scoffed at being called nice.

"Goodbye!"

Yusuke made one more funny face for the kid who laughed. As the two walked out of the room in hand and hand, he heard Masaru say, "Can I play with him tomorrow, mommy?"

"We'll see dear."

When the door opened, the reporters and cameramen went at it again. Masaru's mother had difficultly cutting through the crowd. One scrawny reporter managed to slip pass Atsuko before she shut the door to the room, and ran up to Yusuke with a tape recorder in hand.

"Please! Urameshi-san will you say some words about saving the child!" the reporter practically shoved the tape recorder in Yusuke's face.

Yusuke felt the vain in his forehead twitch in anger. Before he could say anything, Atsuko grabbed the guy by the scruff of his neck and forcefully bum-rushed the reporter out into the crowd of reporters.

"Get out of here you vultures!" Atsuko slammed the door again. The door's frame had all but crack from being abused so much.

"All this because me?" Yusuke asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm surprise myself."

Yet another knock came out the door. Atsuko looked ready to chew someone's head off, however the person at the door turned out to be a frazzled nurse who let herself in.

"You're quite the celebrity, Urameshi-kun." The nurse said, unenthusiastically.

"I'll say…" he mumbled.

As the nurse was bent over to take his temperature, he caught a glimpse of the chart she held (and also her cleavage…nice!). He started to panic.

"What day is it?"

"It's the twenty-fifth, Urameshi-san."

"Of what month?"

"November," The nurse replied starting at him strangely.

Oh. Shit.

"I'm going to let the doctor know we should take another CT scan."

Oh shit…oh shit…oh shit, oh shit, oh SHIT!

It was November!

Yusuke now knew what was going on, why everyone was acting strange, why he got into a car accident again…

Somehow, Yusuke now found himself transported back in time.

**x.X.x.X.x**

**Oh noz! Did Yusuke really travel back in time? I don't know. :3 Muahahaha! This chapter was longer than expected. Awesome! **

**Trivia:**

-The sky turning black when the boatman appeared is referenced to the time when Ayame appeared before Kuroko to deliver Spirit World's message. Only this time, the boatman messed it up.

-Moe means 'sprout' and 'bud'. I thought it was the perfect name for a boatman-in-training since all boatmen have flower names. Moe's very inexperienced as showed with her entrance slip-up and her losing the tape. The fact that Reikai had to use her early means something big is happening. She's just a filler character so you probably won't see her again.

-Regarding the earthquake I mentioned, it's not referenced to the March earthquake that hit Japan. I wrote that part YEARS ago (this story has been in the works forever…), so it's all by coincidence. I thought about changing it but decided against it. Sorry to anyone offended. :sweat drops:

-I thought about Atsuko's character, and I figured she isn't the type to like reporters since she hangs around "shady" people. Hahah…

-Yu Yu Hakusho first came out around November of 1990, so this is the time I based Yusuke's death around. It makes sense since in chapter five of the manga it's already Christmas time.

**Words to Know:**

Reiki: Spirit energy

Youki: Demon energy

**Although you should probably know those already. If not… WTF dude?**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! I don't know when the next chapter will come out. Hopefully soon, if not…sorry… :sweat drops: **

**Please feel free to leave a review. I love it when people critique so if you see a typo, grammatical error, or plot hole, let me know.**

**Cya!**


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